Saturday, August 29, 2009

Over the Fourth of July we went to my cabin in Weber. The kids love it there. We had so much fun with the mix of my cousins and their kids and my siblings and their kids that were up at the cabin that week. The Prince and V love to ride the horses, especially V. The second we pull up to the cabin she wants to go straight to the horses and doesn't want to leave. She isn't afraid at all. She feeds the horses and she pats the horse during the ride. She loves to ride with me, and never falls asleep, which most kids do at her age. It is so hard to stay awake. The rhythm of the horse walking, the peacefulness of the mountains, and the heat of the sun are a perfect combination for sleep. The Prince almost always falls asleep, or at least totally relaxes. He likes to ride his own horse, while I ride my own horse and lead his around. My biggest problem is keeping him awake so he doesn't fall off. Usually the first rule of horse-back-riding is "You're the boss" but for The Prince it is "Stay awake."

Wednesday, August 05, 2009

The weekend of June 26-28 we went to St. George for Captain F's grandfather's 90th Birthday celebration. It turned out to be a great trip particularly because Captain F took Friday off and we drove down earlier than we expected. We were going to try and drive down after work on Friday. This was much better. The other thing that turned out fantastically was that the condo's master bedroom had a huge walk-in closet. Ootsie and Papa Ou-sey gave up the master bedroom so we could put Little V in her crib in the closet. She has to have her own room to sleep. If she is in the same room and we move at all, her head pops up and she starts talking to us. It is a mess. The closet worked like a dream. We all slept well. What a blessing!

We had so much fun swimming with Ootsie, Papa Ou-sey, and The Boy. Papa Ou-sey would hold the Prince aloft on his hands over and over. The Prince was amazingly balanced. Here are some pictures. I want to post more pictures, but I have to wait for a week when Ootsie comes back to Utah for a visit. Cicada, Murray, and Gulliver were all there, too, but we never did swim with them. Swimming time interferred with Gulliver's nap times.

We also had a great time with Captain F's cousins, Aunts, and Uncles. The 90th Birthday party turned out great. To top it all off, we even met up with some former Timmins residents and good friends of the Canadians. They now reside in St. George. There are 10 kids and we saw them all, and their families, but one. Pretty impressive. Captain F had a great time reconnecting. Then we drove home.

The kids did very well on the drive down and the drive home. Although, on the drive home they started to crack the last 45 minutes. One of the best parts was when the sun was in the Prince's eyes and he started to cry, "The sun's getting me. The sun's getting me." Little V was so funny when the kids were watching "Shrek." She insisted we watch the part with the dancing dolls (that look like the "It's a Small World" ride) as Shrek and Donkey enter the city. We were almost home and the kids were on their last limb. We watched it over and over--anything to passive those two.